"What made OoT so successful?"

For this investigation I have listened to many peoples viewpoints and stuck them together, to answer this question.

Storyline

For many people, they believe the storyline is the best they've seen in any of the Zelda series. But there are many others that believe the storyline is not even worth a little bit of praise.

I was once one of the people who believed the storyline was excellent, but by listening to other people's viewpoints I had to investigate even further, so I played the game again. Half way through the game I suddenly realised that maybe my belief was wrong and by the end of the game I had totally changed my viewpoint, the storyline is terrible!

Basically all you have to do is beat all temples, fight Ganondorf and Gannon and save the Princess. Yeah okay, the game outlines how Hyrule came into existence, but that has been explained in the other Zelda games, there was nothing new to explore. People were expecting a storyline that would better LttP's, but that never happened. The storyline LttP was superb; it was simple but very deep and involving.

So in conclusion the Storyline should have been much better.

How long did it last?

Okay in all fairness, OoT was huge! (Even though Hyrule Field was one big circle with paths branching off it going to different areas). With nine temples and Ganondorfs castle, the game lasted for ages. But there was one draw back, once you have finished the game, all there is left to do is find all the heart pieces, beat your scores on the mini games and go fishing, then there nothing else to do (well except for fishing, that sometimes keeps me playing).

Originally Nintendo said that OoT would take over 60 hours to complete, but really if people put there minds to it, it would take them just 20 hours, maybe less.

But for first time players of the game, 60 hours is quite a long time.

Graphics

The graphics of the game is probably the thing that made OoT so popular. But this is because people never think about gameplay anymore, it has to be about the graphics, it a game doesn't have good graphics, forget it. So with this stubborn attitude, people brought OoT and didn't comment one bit about the gameplay etc. just the graphics. The graphics were good in their own right, Hyrule looked great, the cut-scenes flowed very smoothly, character movement was superb and many other things could be listed.

So it seems that Graphics had a lot to do with OoT being very popular.

Sounds

The sound is a very important part in games; the music has to fit the surrounding area and shouldn't be annoying. And I must say that I'm pleasantly surprised at the music in OoT, lots of new tunes and some old tunes. Take Kakariko Village for example, Nintendo took the music of the Village in LttP and made a beefed version of the tune for OoT, very nice.

The music always matched its surroundings perfectly, e.g. in the Temples the tunes were dark and eerie and Hyrule fields tune was bold and full of instruments.

So the music in OoT must have had something to do with it being very popular.

RPG?

OoT really let a lot of RPG fans down; they were expecting a game with lots of talking, loads of magic and more interaction. OoT ended up being more of an Adventure game, than anything else.

I believe that the storyline has something to do with the fact that OoT wasn't much of an RPG, for an RPG you need a storyline that is very deep and makes you think.

It's a shame it wasn't much of an RPG, so how did the game get so popular?

Good Ending?

Hmmmm. What should I say about the ending except it's Boring and a whole load of rubbish!

Nintendo could have done a lot better! Come on, LttP had three different endings, all OoT had was the sages banishing Ganondorf and Link and Zelda talking.

But it got worse, the credits! The credits were so dull; do we really want a tour around Hyrule and the same tune being repeated over and over again?

Then it goes into that diabolical party at Lon Lon Ranch, I can't bear to watch it! It's so annoying; it's as if Nintendo ran out of ideas and just coded this bit at the very last minute!

Also what are Nintendo thinking? Why are the Kokiri in the party? I thought they weren't allowed to leave the forest or they would die!

I am appalled at the ending; Nintendo should have spent more time thinking about it, the ending is always a crucial part of a game.

Final Verdict

Well I don't really know what to say, what can I say?

I have covered the most important parts of the game, but looking at the results, I really don't know how OoT became so popular.

I think I do have a reasonable explanation, the graphics. Do I have to say anymore? It's because of way people now look at video games; it's just the graphics they look at and nothing else. They forget about finding out how good the storyline is, the sounds, the fact that it's an RPG when it says it is and many other points.

Another reason it become so popular is because of all the hype, people would look at one measly picture of the game and get all excited (going back to the graphics point). Also the fact that Nintendo delayed the game so much didn't help, it made people grow impatient, I know people who actually brought three copies of the game, just in case they lose one!!

So it seems that the graphics factor is what made OoT so popular.